James Degale vs George Groves rematch

Degale looked really impressive last night as Groves struggled.

I personally think the Froch defeats have knocked something out of George mentally. I know he is on course for a title shot but I don't think he is ready

He needs a couple more wins to restore the confidence.

Anyway back to the point of Degale vs Groves. Unlike George, James has that aura of invincibility about him. He has supreme confidence and is improving all the time.

If he were to fight Groves tomorrow there would only be one winner.

Personally I would like to see Groves back on form and the 2 to collide for a big showdown next year. It would be much more exciting than last nights farce of a grudge match anyways

Couldn't agree more mate.

Bother looked on different levels last night. Groves was being smashed to bits by a middleweight for 3 rounds and only won becuase said middleweight got tired.

De Gale absolutely destroyed a usually tough Mexican fighter who took Chavez Jr the distance not so long ago....

Groves has been COBRA'd....funny choice of words by King Carl...but hey...I think he is spot on.

Groves has been Bute'd

Were funny words but some truth in them. That knockout would knock the confidence out of someone.

Always rated Degale but wasn't sure he is top elite. Think he might be.

will know soon for sure

Couldn't agree more mate.

Bother looked on different levels last night. Groves was being smashed to bits by a middleweight for 3 rounds and only won becuase said middleweight got tired.

De Gale absolutely destroyed a usually tough Mexican fighter who took Chavez Jr the distance not so long ago....

Groves has been COBRA'd....funny choice of words by King Carl...but hey...I think he is spot on.

Groves has been Bute'd

Always thought degale was the more talented of the 2, thought he slightly edged the first in what was a razor close call either way.

However after the first froch fight and seeing how degale seemed to have regressed, I was leaning more towards groves in any rematch. It has now flipped again and if the rematch was the next fight for both I think degale takes it.

Think the best for both is put it off until 2016 and let both grab an alphabet ( and groves regain confidence ) then if all goes well you have a huge British fight on your hands!

Plus there's always a chance degale gets a shot at the main man next...

Cant see Ward fighting Degale next.

Be nice to see Ward back

Lol you know what I meant catchweight, the main man from degales perspective.(plus the actual main manis semi retired at the mo).

Periban has not fought Chavez jnr, not sure why that keeps getting repeated.

Can't help but feel you're being a wee bit hasty, Adam. I'm getting a bit of de ja vu with this!

According to the bookies odds and the vast majority of the pundit's picks, there was only going to be one winner when they met back in 2011, too. Much of that was based on an overreaction to their recent outings, namely Groves getting dropped and badly hurt by Anderson and Degale looking very dominant against Smith. Before that there'd been basically nothing to separate them, but those respective fights caused an overreaction, which was demonstrated on fight night regardless of what anyone thought of the decision.

I'm expecting the same to happen again now. Degale's looked better in his previous couple of fights, and hey presto it's going to be a mismatch again, when it reality there's nothing to suggest to me that a Groves-Degale rematch would be anything other than an open, highly-competitive bout with little between them.

It's a rivalry which has seen a few swings in momentum, just so happens that Degale is the one who has it right now, that's all. Level pegging before the Anderson / Smith fights, then Degale seemed to be the guy most were hanging their hat on. Groves makes people think twice by nicking that decision, and then for the next couple of years or so Groves is going from strength to strength, looking more and more assured as he makes his way up the rankings and enhancing his reputation with a brilliant showing against Froch a year back. Meanwhile, Degale is seemingly going backwards, fighting in front of dwindling crowds and struggling with the likes of Wilczewski and Khatchikian as he makes the same mistakes fight after fight. Go back twelve months and most were arguing that Groves had gone to a whole new level and left Degale behind, from what I remember.

As I said, there have been plenty of shifts in momentum and right now Degale's got it in light of what's been happening in the past six months - but already I think the careers of these two have shown us that it's dangerous to dismiss either man's chances against the other. I don't totally rule out the Froch defeats having taken something out of Groves, and I agree he was sloppy last night, but I'm yet to be convinced that there's any real gap between him and Degale or that a rematch between them would be any different to the fights they've already had, both amateur and professional - very close and competitive, with both men being in with a real shout.

Just think Groves needs a solid break and a big win to boost the confidence

Groves has grown on me and I hope he does be competitive vs Degale. Its good for British boxing and hopefully Smith will also be in the mix next year

If degale fought groves next, degale would win handily. If Groves regains his confidence then the outcome will be a degale win, though closer than if they fought now.

Groves chin is cracked for now - he has no confidence in it. If you believe in your chin youre more willing to put on a poker face when buzzed. When you dont beleive in your chin, when you take a good dig, you momentarily freeze, it shows in your eyes..theres no hiding it, your opponent then capitalises on this. Every clean shot will hurt him from now on...I don't see him regaining confidence in his chin before A Degale fight is made.

Has Degale ever been buzzed in a fight, from the fights i've seen I can't rememeber seeing him hurt once.

Not sure he has. Haven't seen him in serious danger thus far

I havent seen degale hurt, though I havent seen every minute of every fight.

Groves will win a close decision.

Wilczewski widened his eyes with a couple of shots - nothing too serious, mind - but I thought Degale definitely had a couple of bad reactions to being clocked against Khatchikian. Degale looked really good and smooth in that fight for about six rounds, but sometime around the seventh (can't remember the round exactly) Khatchikian buzzed him. That wasn't a massive problem in itself, but it seemed to really deter Degale who spent the next three rounds backing off, holding and looking a bit shaky as a result. Found the groove again to get the stoppage eventually, though.

His chin seems pretty sound to me, albeit his record isn't awash with big hitters. Groves fought as a counter-puncher against him looking to accumulate rounds and Zuniga was a) past his best, and b) short of knockouts against the better guys he fought.

At the minute I would say Degale Groves would be 70-30. If Groves can match the performance of the first Froch fight then the fight would be much closer.

Maybe I'm being a tad harsh but think Groves is missing something

DeGale will out chunk Groves and win by a late stoppage

If I remember correctly Degale's legs went to jelly when he got nailed with an over hand right by Wilczewski

Degale has never been down nor has been properly buzzed. Although, he does suffer with pressure fighters who can walk through him.

Regardless, Degale vs. Groves is a great fight. Both are skilful and can bang. I actually think both are better fighters than Froch, the fight just came too soon for George.

All Time Great wrote: I actually think both are better fighters than Froch, the fight just came too soon for George.

I'm not sure what you are basing this on. It didn't look too soon for Groves at all, especially in the first fight - which he was dominating until the last couple of rounds before it was stopped. 2-0 to Froch, and Froch has a CV that Groves can only dream about. As for Degale, he is looking the real deal, but it remains to be seen.

Both are better boxers without doubt but Froch is a far superior fighter and has a chin that the pair could only dream about.

Groves by SD if it goes to the cards, otherwise Groves by KO inside 4 rounds

When they first fought, I think Degale was a bit surprised by Groves' strategy and never really managed to adapt. Now that they're both more experienced I don't think the same thing would be likely to happen again. I would pick Degale to win now, I've always felt that he had more natural ability than Groves and he seems to have been taken down a peg or two by his experience with Hennessy, which can only be a good thing.

I was gutted when Groves won their first fight, me and my mate were worried he might have nicked a draw and were suprised when Groves won as Degale controlled most of that fight.

I think it would be another close fight and hopefully this time Degale will get the nod.  Groves has not lost it, its just hard to go from the hights he was at to boring fights.

Degale is the better boxer, Groves just has that great power and speed in the first few rounds...

Degale will beat Froch if they fight. unless the judges rob him like they were going to do in Froch Groves one.

Groves v Degale II would be a good match up. There probably has to be politics negotiated to ensure there is a "world title" up for grabs before the fight can happen though.

Degale controlled most of the groves fight? There was nothing in it tunes, could have gone either way.

Agree that degale seemed bemused by groves tactics and took him a while to get into the fight. But then James has a fairly permanent look of bemusement about him. It seemed to put degale back a bit a bit and move groves forward. As has already been said, the momentum seems to have switched. I'd lean to degale in a rematch but not with much confidence.

I really haven't seen many on here who thinks Froch will beat DeGale, I don't get why. DeGale needs to fight a legitimate top 10 fighter before challenging Froch, same with Groves before he faces Dirrell. We can only speculate how he will step up, like Groves Froch I where we had no idea how Groves would do at world level, but for so many to rule out Froch I disagree. I think Froch will use Bute tactics on DeGale should they meet, he won't respect DeGale's power as much as Groves'. Though in saying that DeGale will do a far better job of avoiding the raiding tactics than Bute did.

I don't agree Milky, there were lots of close rounds but I think Degale done enough in that fight and Groves was quite fortunate. Close yes but I have watched it back 3 times and I think ultimately the anti Degale crowed insured all the 50/50 rounds went to Groves.

theanimal316, Degale has done enough to deserve his position and in his last two fights he has seen off one of the USAs hopfulls and another very experienced and durable fringe world level fighter both with ease. the question is can he mix it with the top guys. I think so.

Froch is getting slower now and struggled in both fights against Groves. I don't think Degale stops Froch but think he can nick rounds off him and has enough speed and power to see the 12 rnds out... Froch would rather not take the fight and risk bowing out to a new boy in town. That being said Froch is one tough mother so I would not put allot of money on it.

Froch would be able to tear into Degale something he couldn't do against Groves, it won't be one way traffic but the pace of the fight would wear Degale down.

I can see why quite a few people consider Degale to be a bit of a dark horse in this fight it it ever comes off, I guess. He's pretty quick and slippery which is something Froch has tended to look a bit more average against - and yet he's still beaten all of those kind of guys he's fought one way or another aside from Ward. On that basis, what Degale has shown so far in his career isn't going to be enough to beat Carl, and it's going to require him taking his game to a whole new level and showing us brand new things we didn't know he had before if he's going to cause the upset. Groves did just that (showed us new things and upped his game I mean) when he got thrown in there against Froch, so it's not impossible, but unless Carl turns fifty overnight I think it's a big ask for Degale.

Has Degale shown the kind of power that can make even a dent in Froch? Has he shown particularly good footwork so far (he had a horrible time trying to follow Groves around and cut the ring off, and has been caught on the ropes a lot)? His Matchroom fights so far have been pretty early blowouts, so can anyone say with any real conviction yet that he's improved on the problems he's had when it comes to maintaining his workrate and concentration across long fights? Is Strongback really Frank Warren? Who knows.

Degale's got tricky hands and speed, and he's not bad defensively either, but he'd still be quite a long-shot against Froch for me if the fight happened in early 2015. Maybe if he were to fight Groves, show that he can correct the flaws which cost him last time out and prove that he's got genuine ring smarts I might fancy him to cause the upset a bit more, but he won't be doing anything for now to put that IBF mandatory spot in jeopardy.

I pick Froch but he isn't getting any younger and I think if Degale can stick to a game plan, I wouldn't be too suprised if he frustrated and outpointed Froch.

I don't see what JDG has done to suggest he could beat Froch. 

Say what you want about Carl, but he is as hard as a coffin nail and fit as a butchers dog. You could fight the fight of your life for 11.5 rounds and he'll stilll be there as fresh and strong as he was in rd1 piling on the shots. To beat him you have to be able to both box and move and have a good inside game, and you have to be fit and physically very strong. I don't think DeGale ticks all these boxes, I can see him starting well but Froch walking through him in the second half of the fight. Groves was able to dominate Froch in their first fight because of that humdinger of a KD, most opponents wouldn't have even got up from that, it took Froch several rounds to recover. DeGale isn't capable of putting that sort of heat on Froch. Froch by late stoppage for me.

As for DeGale Groves, it's interesting. I picked JDG to win the first fight and had him winning by a round. Then like others I felt GG left him behind career wise - having blockbusters against Froch while JDG was struggling in leisure centres. But DeGale looks reborn since joining MatchRoom he's also recovered from a long standing groin injury (with treatment from Gary Lewin) that he said was massively hampering him and it appears that may have been true. He's hitting a lot harder now for sure. 

I think the Froch fight was too early for GG. He's probably had his biggest moment career wise before actually achieving anything. This makes motivation a problem going forward, and that was apparent on Saturday. Also he does spread himself thinly with management etc. When he should be focusing purely on his own game. Finally I'm not sure Paddy Fitzpatrick is the right man for GG, he needs someone who'll take no nonsense and keep him focused, Paddy seems a bit of a yes man who is grateful for the opportunity. For me groves isn't the fighter he was a year ago before Froch 1 when he had Booth. Whether that's because he's missing Booth, or he's fatigued from a manic year, or he's spreading himself too thin - or a combination of all, is debatable. What's not debatable for me right now is that DeGale would stop him if they fought anytime soon. 

If Groves can regain some momentum and confidence then the two are very evenly matched and GG will always win the psychological battle. Hopefully it'll happen in 18 months with both men established as world champions.

Think people are factoring in Froch's age when picking Degale....I certainly am !!!!!..

By the time he fights again he'll have been out of the ring for nearly a year too !!

More degradation...

To be fair, I'd say there's a lot Froch has done which suggests Chunky has a chance. I mean he needed nearly the entire fight to stop Taylor, who in reality isn't a Super middleweight. He got a little lucky with Dirrel, and of course lost to Ward. Froch hasn't shown an ability to comfortably deal with boxers to the degree that Jimmy's chances should be immediately dismissed.

Froch would be a gargantuan leap in opposition for Degale at this point. However, although we haven't seen evidence of his correcting some of the defects in stamina and concentration that we have seen from him, I do sense a significant change in his approach. This may just be my perception of his performances, but Degale has looked about 100 times more focused in his last two fights, brief though they were. His work has always had an air of the complacent about it, patchy flashes of quality rather than sustained performances. In beating Periban and Gonzalez though, he looks vicious and hungry, a million miles from the maddeningly smug shopping centre performances. It may be that this is a false dawn, but I have always believed in Degale's talent and I think he is well capable of winning a world title within 12 months.

He is also injury free now, with no groin or knee issues, which has not done him any harm...

I think Degale would beat Froch. He is as good a boxer technically as Groves but less likely to punch himself out and fade.